The Corruption Of Pennsylvania

As of candidate for the 183rd State House seat, I spoke about the corruption and cronyism entrenched in our state government. A glaring example were two stories in last week's Morning Call. On Thursday, a report detailed the arrest of ten PennDOT officials from the Philadelphia area, who had skimmed $millions from the road budget. PennDOT and its director, Barry Schoch, indicated that the problem seemed to be limited to the one area, never mind it's the biggest area in the state. The Morning Call, never allowing news to get in the way of one of their special reports, the next day did a feature on the great job PennDOT and Schoch were doing. In that article local representative Michael Schlossberg praises the department and its director. Schlossberg, who represents Allentown, has never faced an opponent. His campaigning for the upcoming term consisted of taking donuts to the poll workers on election day. In Lehigh Valley, where six of eleven incumbents were unopposed, the voters have the state government they so richly deserve.

Morning Call Misrepresentation

In it's enthusiasm to promote J.B. Reilly's downtown, the paper referred to the proposed tower as a private project; It also would be perhaps the largest private development project the city has ever seen. They are correct in that the property will be privately owned by Reilly, but when it's being paid for by public tax dollars, it can hardly be called private development. When this stage of Reillytown is complete, nearly $100million of former Pennsylvania tax dollars will be going to his private debt service. In addition to the office tower, the proposal also calls for a parking deck and apartments. Community activist Ce-Ce Gerlach would like to see 10% of the units reserved for the indigenous natives at reduced rates. They will be given their own quarters, but not in the big house.

Big Week For Israel And Jew Hating

Burning an effigy of a Jew, parading with model rockets and displaying coffins with photos of Israelis killed in terror attacks: this is how Hamas celebrated its 27th anniversary in Gaza, inciting hatred of Israel and the Jewish people.

While Hamas and Palestinians celebrated their hatred of Jews in Gaza City, Hamas was taken off the European Union's terror list. Benjamin Netanyahu's response; "In Geneva, they call for the investigation of Israel for war crimes, while in Luxembourg the European court removed Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations...It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil 6 million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing."

Mount Of Temptation

The Palestinian Authority unsuccessfully tried to increase tourism to Jericho this year, no rush, the town might be the oldest inhabited city on earth, 10,000 years. In 1895 the Greek Orthodox Church built the Mount of Temptation Monastery, where the devil tried three times to tempt Jesus during his forty days of prayer and fast. Steeped in both the Old and New Testaments, next to Jerusalem, it is the most excavated city in the Holy Land.

related post on Jericho

reprinted from May 2013

Merry Pawlowski

Last night, as I went to sleep concerned about the impropriety of The Morning Call featuring Pawlowski's picture on the city map, little did I know I would awake to another full page picture of the mayor on the cover of the Entertainment Section. It's time for me to get with the program. I wish you a Happy Pawlowski Day, and next month, when it's beginning to look a lot like Pawlowski, may you have a Merry Pawlowski and Happy Pawlowski Year!

reprinted from November 2008

No Jews Of Libya

Despite having settled there hundreds of years before Christ, there are no Jews in Libya.

I left Libya more than 42 years ago when the mobs were roaming the streets. They were not chanting for democracy or yearning for freedom — they were looking for Jews.

Gina Waldman.

This community, that goes back 2,500 years, has obliterated their oldest minority...They drink anti-semitism with their mother's milk.

Gina Zanzur
After the creation of Israel in 1948, anti-Jewish riots and killings forced 30,000 Jews to flee. After the 1967 Israeli war, the remaining 6,000 were expelled, each allowed one suitcase and $20.
historic photo of the Jewish Quarter in Tripoli

reprinted from October 2011

UPDATE: An envoy from the displaced Libyan Jewish community now living in Italy, was told that there would be no place for Jews in the new Libya.

Morning Call Exposé On Incumbents

Yesterday, the Morning Call ran it's second exposé on incumbent spending. In the first report we learned that Julie Harhart was one of the biggest spenders in the State House. Yesterday's edition dealt with hiring outside consultants at even more expense to the taxpayers. As a blogger who values brevity, I have issue with the length of these multi-page series. Do voters who choose the same incumbents election after election really read 10,000 word articles? As a candidate and voter in the November election, I have a bigger problem with the absurd timing of the series. The first installment appeared two weeks after the election, but 23 months before the next one. The articles are too late to help the voters in the recent election, and too early to be meaningful for the next one.